


Recognition

by theGirlwithtoomanyOTPs



Category: Naruto
Genre: F/M, I miss NejiTen, Just feels okay?, Kid Fic, Neither fluffy nor angsty, a sort of character study I guess?, sort of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-30
Updated: 2015-12-30
Packaged: 2018-05-10 12:36:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5585611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theGirlwithtoomanyOTPs/pseuds/theGirlwithtoomanyOTPs
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She has made her mark long before</p>
            </blockquote>





	Recognition

**Author's Note:**

> unedited and hastily written. here. have some NejiTen.

Tenten was born on the road as her family were no more than poor merchants who traveled from town to town to make their living.

The day that the feared Nine Tails was unleashed, the large family had been in the Leaf Village. And in the aftermath, the Sandaime hokage had refused to let anyone in or out until all the clean ups and investigations were wrapped up. This proved to be a momentuous task and days turned to weeks and to months and then to a year.

By then, Tenten's family had decided to settle down instead. Business was more stable here in a huge Village. They weren't going to earn loads of money but it was enough to feed all of them and take care of the monthly bills. And Tenten's father knew that his children and his wife must be tired from all the traveling. He rents a small two storey building and converts the first floor into a humble shop. The second floor, they crowd as a new home.

And so the family of nine stayed in Konohagakure.

The eldest ones were too old to join the Academy and immediately got jobs of their own all over the Village. The younger ones attended the Academy and decided for themselves that they do not want to become ninjas. All of them will grow up to be simple, law abiding citizens.

The youngest girl is five years old, with two bouncy buns on either side of her hair, however, when she chooses to be a shinobi in training.

Her mother cries and hugs her tightly when she announces her decision during dinner. She tells her no as she weeps but Tenten's father merely nods. Tenten has never let anybody's opinion stand in her way before, not even her own parents.

Her brothers and sisters make fun of her and her weapons, calling her silly and a danger to herself. They ridicule her, telling her she will be a failure since most ninjas come from noble clans. Those people who live in compounds and could afford to eat like kings at night. She holds her head up high and continues to polish her shuriken, bought from the money she had earned helping out in their parent's small sweetshop and makes no reply.

As she is technically only a child, her mother picks her up every day after classes. She does not speak with the other parents and stand off to the side until Tenten comes up to her side and then immediately leave.

They make no conversation of what she has learned that day, except her kunoichi lessons. Tenten is not good with neither cooking or _ikebana_. But she talks about it like it is the most exciting thing because it's the only thing that makes her mother smile and not twitch or wince away from the other boys who run around after class, pretending to be ninjas who always ending up with dirty clothes and scraped up knees.

But one week comes along and her mother is sick and she asks Hirumi, Tenten's eldest sister to pick her up. Hirumi is big and heavy where Tenten is small and lean. Hirumi detests Tenten for being everything she is not. Hirumi is also always heavy handed with her and so Tenten doesn't speak or walk too close to her.

It is the day that Tenten talks back at her that Neji finally notices her.

Hyuuga Neji was quiet, friendless and the smartest and most talented in Tenten's class. She has never spoken to him before because he has always looked like he didn't want company but she admires his skills with envy.

And because Tenten wanted to be like the legendary _Sanin_ Senju Tsunade, she has made it one of her goals to beat the young Hyuuga in anything. It was a high bar and she always ended up failing, but she was determined. After all, her shurikenjutsu is a mark higher than his.

He notices her when a larger woman slaps her cheek red. He was not unfamiliar with abuse; the Hyuuga family did not earn their reputation without discipline, after all. But unlike most girls he knows, she does not cry.

Her eyes are fierce and she grits her teeth as the woman tells her off for spending her time _playing_ with those funny shaped knives and bouncing around on roofs like idiots instead of learning how to help out at their family's shop. She tells Tenten for being ungrateful and how her destiny is tol end up dying uselessly and being no help to their family.

Tenten rubs her swollen cheek and moves away from her sister's grasp on her tiny arm.

"I'm not going to be like you!" The young girl screams and Neji watches with mild surprise at how strong she seems for someone who looks scrawny and underfed. "I won't let my life be wasted on waiting to be handed off to marry someone who probably won't like me anyway! I'm gonna become a ninja! And I'll die saving this Village! I'm the master of my own destiny!"

"So you think you're better than the rest of us, huh?!"

He watches as the woman drags away a struggling girl, uncaring of whoever was looking.

Neji looks away and walks home, feeling the mark underneath his bandages grow warm and heavy.

He is half impressed and half annoyed.

She's very much unlike most girls. But what does she know of destiny?

He never forgets her.

_"I am the master of my own destiny!"_

He continues to avoid his classmates, his family, and Hinata for years on end.

When he becomes assigned in a genin squad, he is not so upset with having her as a teammate.

There are times when he looks down on her, but she only retorts back in a way nobody has ever spoken to him.

She is witty, fiery and confident.

He is annoyed of her and he is vocal about it. She was weak and yet she still tries. Maybe because she is not so beautiful. She is plain and unattractive compared to the rest of them. He was still a male human being and he notices these things. So maybe that's why she tries so hard. She was no better than Lee who cannot do anything else other than _taijutsu_ , however.

But in his mind is begrudging respect.

She works hard to cover her shortcomings and is different compared from the others in their class who came from noble clans.

She is not afraid to get dirty and work from dawn until dusk and only complains because their sensei and their other teammate drains the life out of her.

And there's also the fact that she managed to find his blindspot after only a month of training together.

She does not stop working any harder even as she realizes that she will never be like the female _Sanin_ and instead embraces her own skills.

She does not cry after her first kill and comes back the next day even more motivated than ever.

And perhaps he was wrong. there were times, after training or a mission when she is covered with dirt all over, sweaty and buns lopsided, when he thinks, she's... pretty. Her smile is wide and pure. Of course he notices. He is a male human being, after all.

But even so, it takes him a long time before he ever actually becomes part of Team Gai. His own fault, of course. But after his defeat to _Uzumaki Naruto_ he learns to acknowledge her as someone sort of an equal. And he does not regret the respect and love he bestows upon her until the day he dies.

He leaves her cousin to the boy who save him. He leaves his sensei and his rival in tears. He leaves Tenten, too. He hopes she knows that he didn't want to.


End file.
